Characters Appearing : Colm, Ashley, Gilgamesh, Dawn, Sheena, Mike Jones, and others
Theme Song : Image of the Invisible

Day 220: Section H-01A (Ostia)

Five Months Later

The crisp winter chill had fallen on the city and snow now covered the buildings, streets, and even the vehicles that now occupied the city. Most of the buildings had no lights, as curfew had long since passed. Only one place still dared to stay open and that was a disreputable tavern in the slums of the city, where only the lowest of the scum associated. Cutthroats, thieves, murderers, and the occasional agent were the only sort of people that dared to drink at a place like it. Somewhere in the background there was an argument, but that didn't bother one occupant.

A Cornerian might seem out of place in a city like Ostia, but he was able to keep a low profile. His ears were always folded under a bandana and fedora now and his features obscured with tinted sunglasses and when he wasn't drinking, a handkerchief around his mouth. The old trenchcoat had become even more faded from life of living on the streets and on the run. He sat at his own table, drinking his own drink while watching the other patrons. At his feet were three small plant-like creatures. Their exposure to the world had only made them more able fighters, becoming like his watchdogs in protecting him. All but the yellow one, which continued to despise him even after five months. Nevertheless, they didn't seem to object at all to absorbing their own bottle of ale, even if their means were quite different.

His quiet drink was interrupted when a few regulars came up on him.

"Hey, old man. My brother don't want you in here," said a man

The Cornerian didn't reply.

"Don't ignore me, you old fucker. We want you out. You smell like shite," the man persisted with an angrier tone.

Still no reply.

The man moved in to grab the bottle on the table. The Cornerian grabbed his hand and turned his head up to look at him. "Nobody touches my drink."

"You must be pretty damn drunk to talk to me like that in my tavern," the man shot back. He tried to pull his arm away, but foudn it quite firmly grasped.

The man nodded back at his other goons and they began to move in on him. However just as suddenly the Corneria was on his feet and had a gun to the man's head. A far cry from his blaster in the past, but the Orange Star M02 served its purpose well for him. "Nobody touches my drink," the Cornerian repeated.

Two of the other men pulled out their own guns and pointed them at the rabbit's head. Peppy grinned. He immediately ducked and threw a fist into one of the men. The three plant creatures instantly joined in. Wulfmin threw himself at one of the gunmen and the brawl was on.

Several minutes later, a Cornerian was thrown face first into the snow by two strong armed goons. Three plant creatures came following after, but not before the blue one scared the two goons away by waving its own knife at them. With a little effort, they turned Peppy over onto his back, allowing the old Cornerian to stare up at the falling snow. He turned his head slightly to look at Prophmin. "Did you get the rum?"

The yellow plant shook his head. "Damned bastards," he concluded, not bothering to get back up. There wasn't a point.

Walking through the snow at the same time was a man---familiar to some and also familiar to none. He had jet black hair that had been slicked back with some kind of greasy gel, tanned skin, and a muscular build. On his face sat a pair of green glasses that, if one looked close enough, one might notice had no lenses in the frames.

The man was wearing a white, nearly threadbare T-shirt with some sort of slogan about toads on it, underneath an overlarge fur coat. Where one might expect boots his feet were clad in sandals with striped socks, and he carried a large satchel that hung at his waist. His name was, to most, Alleyway Jack.

Coming to a stop in front of the hare, he sighed heavily.

"Ifrit's ass, you weren't easy to find."

"Ifrit's ass can bugger off," the Cornerian grunted. He didn't recognize who was standing over him, nor did he particularly care. He was content to wallow where he sat. "Unless you've got a bottle of something hard and bitter in that bag, you can bugger off too."

Jack wasted no time in bending down and grabbing the Cornerian by the collar.

"Bottle, no," he grunted, trying to catch the eye of his quarry, who was from all indications fairly wasted. "Hard and bitter, yes."

He'd become vaguely aware of the strange plants accompanying Peppy, but knew only that they were definitely not Pokemon. Paying them no mind, he eyed the hare again.

"Dammit, Cotton, it's Jack. Get off your ass and listen to me."

The Pikmin eyed the new figure curiously, ready to take him on at a moment's notice. Nevertheless, the red one kept them from acting. He didn't sense any hostility from the man.

Peppy on the other hand lazily used his hands to keep himself from falling on his back, leaning slightly back as he looked up lazily at the man. A little blood was dripping from his nose from the fight and his sunglasses bent and missing a lens. He smiled slightly and belched. "Jack? Jack buddy? That's... that's great. Is it in a can? I'll take it in a can."

Jack grumbled and released the pitiful shadow of a fighter pilot, letting him flop back over in the filth of the street while he continued to mumble to himself.

"Cure," he dully spat. A soothing white light washed over Peppy, healing him. Magic couldn't fix what ailed a man, and it couldn't sober a man up either, but at least it could fix up the scrapes and the nosebleed a bit.

"What happened to you, Cotton?" the man murmured softly, mostly to himself. His gentle demeanor fading once more, he leaned closer to the hare's face and shouted "HEY!"

"Dammit. Keep it down," Peppy retorted angrily. His ears were ringing and having ears the length of his head didn't exactly help. His energy had been restored, though he was still hungry... and thirsty for something to drown himself away in. "Nobody touches my bottle."

He patted for his gun, but it wasn't there. The Cornerian pushed himself back up defiantly as he looked the man in the eye. "Nobody takes my booo--"

With that, he passed out.

Some hours after that, the black-haired swordsman and the Cornerian, as well as the latter's bizarre plant companions, occupied a room at a fairly low-quality Ostian inn nearby.

Jack sat in a chair while Peppy lay on the bed; Jack all the while waiting for the hare to awaken, hopefully sobered up. The plants regarded him rather neutrally, their direct interactions with him ceasing after they'd stopped helping him carry the hare to the inn itself.

After five months, it was good to see that Peppy had survived, but his hopes did not go much higher than that.

When Peppy finally awakened, he at first didn't notice his surroundings. His head was on fire and as he patted around him, he determined that not only was there not a bottle in reach, but that he was no lying in the gutter like he usually was. The bed was soft, the room was warm, and he was dry. None of his weapons were on him either. However he did see Prophmin's ears sticking up from the end of the bed. Had they somehow shuffled him into somewhere warm?

Then he noticed the stranger. With five months of hell and the mother of all headaches clouding his head, he didn't recognize the man. Either he was a clever agent or someone friendly. But it had been a long time since he met someone he would describe as 'friendly'.

"I've got no money to pay you," Peppy mumbled. "And if you're wanting to turn me in, I ain't valuable. I already tried."

"I know you tried, you damn old fool, that's part of what led me to you eventually," grumbled Jack in reply. He stood up and got closer to Peppy, though he knew that wouldn't aid in his identification much---he looked completely different from before deliberately; that was the point.

"It's Alleyway Jack," he repeated slowly. "We met about five months ago. This isn't going to be easy, so why don't we start with what I know."

"Jack?" Peppy paused a moment as he squinted. Without his glasses, his eyesight wasn't what it could be. But he'd lost those weeks ago. "You did something with your hair."

Of all the things he didn't want to talk about was anything five months ago. Nevertheless, there was a short answer to it all. "I failed. Somehow they knew what I was doing. Damned if I know how they knew, but they knew. Probably that son of a bitch Pokey was behind it." Though Peppy had five months to think it over and Pokey being to blame didn't quite fit. He'd never told him any specifics. The people that did know... they were the suspicious ones. Had it been Dawn? Tabitha? Maybe Wes or May... or there was even the possibility Jack himself did it.

"That's all there is to know. There's no going back. This is as good as it gets," Peppy concluded. "Now if you don't mind... I need some beer to kill this headache."

"It may just have been bad timing, Cotton," Jack replied sadly. "Gyarad---erm, Enforcer Lance went missing from his post around the same time you met me. It's possible they thought you were involved and put more scrutiny your way at exactly the wrong time. Or like you said, maybe someone tipped them off. It wasn't Pokey and it wasn't me, that's all I can say for certain."

He gave Peppy a grim look. "But I need to know what exactly happened. I can't keep my ear to the SSA's phones all the time; I don't know the specifics. You say you failed? So how bad is it? Then we can get to damage control." He paused as Peppy stirred to look for some alcohol, scowling. "I need you sober for this one, buddy."

Peppy wasn't happy about being denied alcohol. Nor about the choice of conversation. He pushed himself off the bed and walked towards the mirror in the room. He hardly recognized himself. He was thinner, his fur was matted, and his face had become gaunt. His ear still carried the little memento he received from his encounter with Enforcer Lance.

"Damage control? Damage Control!?" Peppy said after tearing himself away from his own reflection. "There's nothing left. I followed them to Corneria. Everything was going well... we got past those damned Nightmin. Even took down that ape in the woods. I found Dialga."

He paused after that as he checked in on the Pikmin. They were apparently sleeping. At first he had found it curious that plants would need to sleep, but it was only natural to him now. "And then they found me. Some woman sent two Agents out: Cricket and Zero. They killed the three Spirits... then took Dialga with them. And then they left Bowser to deal with us. Olimar died just so the four of us could get out." He gave a mournful sigh, then looked back up at Jack. "I'm sorry about Uxie. There was nothing we could do."

Jack shook his head sadly. As much as he'd suspected it, it was still hard to hear definitively that Uxie was gone.

"Well, if it hadn't gone badly, we wouldn't be here, of course," he replied. "I'm not saying things didn't go downhill for you in a big way, Cottontail... but this can't just end here."

He paced the room a bit, trying not to wake the, ah, plants.

"We can't let them keep Dialga. You know that," Jack said fiercely. "I'm not asking you to do this by yourself this time, either."

Peppy grunted at the suggestion. He had considered it early on, of course. He reckoned that's why Olimar sacrificed himself. Not just to keep the Pikmin alive, but because he believed that perhaps there would be a way to free Dialga. But a few months of fruitless fishing for information had got him nowhere. He'd been unable to contact any of his old allies and never was able to find Star Fox. It's why he gave up after awhile. At times he had considered throwing away that weathered newspaper article on Zelda's death and the warrant for McCloud and Kong. If not for those two tiny articles, he probably would've got himself killed a long time ago.

"It's impossible. Not even the Seer is around anymore. Not that I think her so called portal to the past was ever real," Peppy replied. "Two people aren't going to be able to rescue Dialga from wherever the hell they're keeping it."

"I'm not talking about two people," Jack replied insistently. "I'm talking about the Resistance."

There was a moment where Peppy was lost in thought. Early on, he had sought them out to get their help. But it wasn't exactly the kind of organization a person stumbled on. "And you can take me to them?"

Jack nodded solemnly. "Right to their doorstep, I swear it."

He gave the hare some time to chew on that.

Peppy did indeed mull over it. Even as much as he would like to believe that there was still hope to return to the past, he wasn't that naive. He knew well what this new world was like and that the hope of ever infiltrating a Subspace installation to rescue Dialga was a fool's hope. That aside, he had no way of communicating his intentions. In the Lost Woods, it hadn't seem to understand what he was saying at all. What were the chances it would understand him now, especially without the spirits?

He had a choice - continue drinking his sorrows away until he died in some bar brawl or to get himself killed on a one in a million shot.

The Cornerian sat down on the bed and looked over at Jack. "Then take me to your leader."

---

Jack wasted no time in obliging this request. They left the city of Ostia immediately and made their way to the Casino Palace.

Luckily, Jack knew several ways to get there so they managed to avoid detection---not that they were being looked for. But with the location of the Resistance base at stake, one couldn't be too careful.

"In there," he said, gesturing.

The Resistance base was not quite what Peppy imagined it to be. Granted, he had a very vague idea of what to expect, but upon actually arriving he was surprised by the level of sophistication. The 'base' had a simple enough lobby with a single attendant who old, of all things, paper. While Jack took care of getting them in, Peppy flipped through some magazines on a display. None of them caught his fancy, though he did notice that Wario had managed to win a 'Man of the Year Award'. Certainly must not have been hard when he owned the entire city.

When Jack had finished talking to the man, they were permitted to into the backroom. Rows and rows of paper products lined the walls. In a world of advanced technology, Peppy wondered exactly what the need for so much paper was. But perhaps that was exactly the point. Eventually they arrived at an elevator that took them down a few floors, but only after Jack inputted a key code to allow them access to a floor that didn't seem to actually 'exist'.

When they at last arrived, what Peppy found was not a ragtag group of rebels scrounging for survival. Instead the operation appeared quite modern. There were guards posted that seemed to be halfway decked out in Federation armor, though the other half didn't seem familiar. Jack led them through the corridors, seemingly as if he knew them only too well. Peppy found himself passing several strange looking people. The mish mash of people was odd, as some he recognized as being Hylians, humans, Cornerians, and some creatures he didn't even recognize.

They were eventually stopped when a man flanked by two guards cut them off. He looked young, probably in his mid twenties. His hair was blue, though it was barely noticeable due to the crew cut he wore. His ears were pierced and a pair of unusual sunglasses dangled from his nose, serving more decoration than functionality. Like the others, he had some of the familiar armor on his chest and one shoulder. Strangely enough, he had a scarf wrapped around his neck, under the armor, that was now a dull faded yellow.

He grinned widely and stuck a hand forward. "Jack! Finally back in our neck of the woods." Pausing, he looked Peppy over a bit skeptically. "This him?"

"Good to see you again, Colm," said Jack briskly to the man they now stood before. He nodded in Peppy's direction. "Yeah. Tracked him down in Ostia. It's been a rough several months for him, so be gentle, mmkay?"

He winked at nobody in particular. "I'd ask how Neimi is, but I'm sure that can wait until Cotton here gets settled in... given the information he has."

Colm nodded upon hearing that and grew serious. "Old Blue's territory. One of the more decent Enforcers, but that's all relative of course." Of course, he knew there was some who would disagree with that assessment - rather vehemently in some cases, but in this case it was a man maintaining his own kingdom, even if it meant ruthlessly at times. At least he wasn't a crackpot like some of the others.

Up until that point, Peppy had said nothing. But upon hearing the talk of all things being relative, he felt the need to speak up. "Excuse me Mister... Colm, was it? You two seem to be good buddies, but just who are you? Who's in charge here?"

"He is, Cotton. He's the leader," Jack put in. He held his opinion of 'Old Blue' back for the moment, as it was mostly irrelevant to their current discussion.

"Him?" Peppy asked incredulously. He'd expected someone a bit older to be in charge of a complex like this. He'd had his run ins with them before and they had admittedly been all young. Their second in command had still been a teenager by his reckoning. "Where's Tabitha? I'd like to talk to her."

"Dead," Colm said gravely. "We lost her two weeks ago. One of those son of a bitch agents sent Vaati after. Not sure which sick fuck it was who did it, but I wouldn't put it past Dimentio or Palazzo."

The news of Tabitha's death hit Peppy like a sack of bricks. After seeing her in action on Enforcer Rool's ship, he'd figured that a woman like her would never be caught. It was a reminder of just how grim this world really was.

"Dead??" Jack wheeled about to glare at Colm, but knew that the man never joked about a death in his own house. He sighed deeply, his brow furrowing. "I... heard whispers about a woman's death, Colm. I was afraid it was your wife; that's why I asked, but... Tabitha. I had no idea..."

After a few seconds of grim silence passed between them, Alleyway Jack clenched his fists so hard he was shaking.
"Goddamn it. Vaati was supposed to be in Vector. You know he and Leo are close. I should've known trusting an informant in that area was too risky... looks like I got lied to. I'm sorry, Colm."

Colm sighed sadly. Tabitha had been an ideal second-in-command. She was a master of military strategy, able to conduct commando missions that few others would even hope to be able to attempt, and was able to inspire others her determination and unwavering optimism. The original might have been one nasty bitch, but the clone had been someone Colm gladly called friend. After the losses of Falcon, Goroh, Malkovich, Irving and even Aran... it was hard to lose yet another person. But even in the face of it, he'd been forced to keep a positive attitude for the sake of morale.

"Tabitha knew the risks when she went on that mission. I think she would have attempted it regardless of your information," Colm replied. "It's as much my fault as it is anybody's."

Peppy had been silent through Jack and Colm's conversation. He finally spoke up once more. "What about Tony? Did he escape Dimentio five months ago? What about Luigi and Nana?"

"Tony is alive, he's actually here. So is Nana. Mr. L is on a mission up in Diamond City," Colm explained. "And there are a few other faces that are around that you might recognize. But first we need to talk." He turned to Jack. "You should go see Tippi. She has some new info to brief you on."
Jack shook his head, trying to put the loss of Tabitha behind him at least for the moment. Couldn't afford to fall apart right now---they needed to act.

"Tippi? Sure thing," the swordsman grunted, trying very hard not to roll his eyes. Tippi always had something to 'brief' him on, that much was certain.

"Later, you two," Jack said finally, leaving the Resistance leader with the pilot and going about his next task.

After Jack left them, Colm took Peppy aside to their cafeteria to talk in depth. Peppy reported his story from beginning to end. His experiences in the wasteland, the people he had met, and his ultimate failure. Colm had apparently known quite a bit, having collected information from Jack and the others. He showed the most curiosity about what happened to Dialga and the monsters that followed. However he pressed Peppy not further after that, encouraging the Cornerian to get cleaned up and get some sleep.

Several hours later, Peppy was a in a better frame of mind. He had been given private quarters (a rare commodity in such limited spaces) and a chance to clean up. As the hours began to drag on towards the evening, he reclined on the bed and tried to put his thoughts behind him, wishing most of all he had a bottle of something to relax him.

Retirement hadn't exactly panned out the way Dawn had wanted it to. Even in a small, remote village like Kakariko, even with Tetra back and visiting as often as she could, even with Dedede still with her, she was always restless. Never able to settle. The younger children had been frightened of her, and none of the other inhabitants of the town outside of Dr. Lucas had wanted to have much to do with them. She just didn't know how to live as a civilian anymore. She had tried to make the most of it, but she simply couldn't. She'd find herself taking apart and cleaning her shotgun every evening out of habit, she could never sit with her back to a door. Old habits really did die hard.

Then Robotnik died.

It was all over the news; the Enforcer of Diamond City slain, his territory captured, his SWATbot army taken by the Resistance. That had been the final straw, the call Dawn had been looking for. No one had ever killed an Enforcer before. Sure, there had been the so-called 'Wily War', but no one knew if the former SkyTown Enforcer was dead or merely in hiding. And what was more, his city was free. Star Fox and the Resistance had moved quickly, though they couldn't do much with the Eggman's SWATbots; there were only enough to protect Diamond City, and if they were ever moved, the SSA would just sweep in from Fourside or New Corneria and take it back.

But even then, the situation no longer seemed so hopeless. If an Enforcer could be killed...one who had abandoned his body and become a living computer (though Dawn didn't learn that until later) no less, maybe, just maybe, the Resistance could win this thing. So Dawn, Dedede, Tetra, and Michael had had a long talk...and before you knew it, all of them were back into it, but no longer fighting a separate battle; they were mainstream Resistance now. Dawn had insisted on continuing to work with Dedede, Tetra, and Michael, though Michael was mostly support these days. She'd even run into a few familiar faces...people she had known and thought to be dead.

And now the General was here. Dawn hadn't seen him since Dedede had allowed him to escape all those months ago in the trackless wilderness near Diamond City. He had been right, back then. General Peppy just falling out of the sky onto her lap like that...it had been more than she could really handle. Dedede had been right to let him go, she knew that now. She would have just made things worse trying to hunt Dialga without the Lake Spirits, hurt more people. And now the General was here, and Dawn needed to apologize.

She approached the door to his room, dressed in her old uniform of, a tank-top, combat fatigues, and boots. Her hair was slightly longer now, having allowed it to grow out during her stay at Kakariko. She raised her hand and knocked on the door, hoping the General wasn't too displeased to see her again. "...General?" She called nervously. "It's...it's me, sir. Dawn Berlitz. I'd like to talk to you."

Though Peppy was far from being in the mood for a visitor, he went to the door to answer. However, when he heard that name, he hesitated. Dawn Berlitz, the woman who had set his fate ever since his arrival. He'd been everything he'd tried to avoid becoming like, but at times he had slipped and before Jack found him, he was well on his way to becoming just like her. He was tempted to simply dismiss her, but his curiosity was stronger than the old fear he had of her. If she was here to kill him, then so be it.

He opened the door. "Miss Berlitz," was all he said.

"...Miss Berlitz was my mother. Dawn will..." She swallowed. "Just...Dawn, sir." This was a far cry from the woman Peppy had met before. She looked nervous, spooked. And it was true, her heart was racing. The fear was still there, despite everything she, Dedede, and Tetra had been doing to extinguish it. It would not go quietly. "I...when you first...when we found...I did...said things...that I...what I mean is...I wasn't always..." She put her hand to her head in frustration. Why was this so hard for her? How many times in the last five years had she stared down death and never blinked, not once? She finally simply bowed her head, not daring to look Peppy in the eye.

"I'm sorry." She said, finally, quietly.

Peppy closed his eyes as he listened to Dawn apologize. For as much as she had changed in those five months, he too had underwent his own changes. In the past, he would have treated her like she was his daughter. But now he felt nothing for her.

"There is no reason to apologize," Peppy replied dismissively. "You played your part in fate. I played mine and failed."

He had changed. Even Dawn could tell that from their brief meeting. "Yes...yes there is." She insisted. "What I did, it...it wasn't right. I was making you my prisoner, telling myself lies to make it all right. I talked about torturing someone, for Arceus's sake! And it wasn't all because I wanted to save the world, it was because I was being selfish and didn't want to be this anymore." She gestured helplessly down at herself.

"I didn't want to feel afraid all the time, I wanted the hurt to go away. I just wanted to go back to being the stupid, stupid girl I used to be and not turn into this...monster I've become!" Her shoulders were shaking visibly now, and she did her best to force herself calm, though it didn't completely work.

"When you showed up, I just...I couldn't take it. I built you up in my mind, put all these unreasonable expectations on your shoulders, and just...it wasn't right of me. I shouldn't have forced you into this."

She took a long, ragged breath. "In a way...everything that's happened to you since you got here...it's my fault. I turned you onto Dialga, I told you about Zelda...all because I was selfish."

Dawn looked back up at him helplessly. "You must hate me for everything I've done to you..."

He paused and gave her a strange look. "You don't get it, do you?" Peppy replied. "The Lake Spirits are dead. Dialga is captured. It doesn't matter anymore. The one I hate is that damned seer. Taunting me with a false hope, then disappearing when only she had the chance to send me home."

He was silent after that. "Olimar is dead. Tabitha is dead. God knows who else is dead since I came here." He narrowed his gaze at her. "Why are you even here?"

Now Dawn looked up at him. "Because Robotnik died too. Or didn't you hear about that? Enforcer Robotnik of Diamond City was killed a few weeks ago, and we took his city, his robots, freed the people from the oppression of his R.I.C.Ks. I guess you don't know how big that is, to take down an Enforcer? It's the biggest victory we've had in a very long time. I tried to get out. I made an honest attempt to just...lay down my gun and stop fighting after you left. But when Diamond City was liberated...yes, we still have a long way to go. The Minister's still out there with the Hand and who knows what else, but maybe we don't need Dialga or the Lake Spirits. Maybe it's not the past we should be focusing on, but the here and now. So my friends and I..." She trailed off. "...Thank you so much for telling Tetra about me, even after what I did...You don't know how happy I was to find out she was still alive. She and Dedede are about the only family I have left."

Dawn shook her head. "I'm here now because I've been living in the past these five years, hoping for something I don't think I can ever have back. I have to try and make the present better. The only way I know how to anymore. By fighting. But I can't move forward until I told you how...how deeply, deeply sorry I am for what I did to you. To try and make things better, I have to become a better person. Like the person you were when we first met."

The news about Diamond City was interesting. Though he knew only too well how this world worked. It would only be a simple matter for the Subspace Army to press their forces and wipe them out. As he had learned, they'd done it during Dr. Wily's rebellion when he had successfully liberated SkyTown. Likewise, General Leo's rebellion had ended in failure. Placing faith in the death of one Enforcer was folly and Peppy realized this only too well. Either Diamond City would become a stain on the earth like Onett Town or it would be reconquered and a new Enforcer would fill Robotnik's shoes. It was like clockwork.

"That kind of person doesn't survive long in this world," Peppy replied curtly. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get my rest."

Dawn gave him a hard stare for a few seconds. "I don't think you should be asking why I'm here. Maybe you should be asking yourself that question. Give up if it seems so hopeless to you. The rest of us will try to make a difference." And with that, Dawn turned and began walking away.

She turned her head to him. "Fox will be ashamed of you, Peppy Hare." He was no longer worthy of the title of general. He wasn't a leader of men, not anymore.

He was just a coward.

Peppy walked her to the door. Her words, no matter how cutting they might have been, didn't affect him. As he held the door, he had only one last thing to say. "Let him, then. But it won't be as much as mine." With that, he shut the door behind him.

He spent several hours staring at the ceiling until he at last drifted off into a fitful sleep. His dreams were plagued with the images of those he had met over the past two hundred days. They mocked and derided his failure. In the end, he hardened himself and ignored it all. But at last he saw her face. His dear wife, Vivian Hare. Even she chided him. Despair consumed him.

Being deep underground, he only knew morning had come when there was a loud rapping of knuckles on his door. He woke up with a start and immediately regretted it. His body was sore, his throat burning, and his head spinning. After a few clumsy minutes, he had finally managed to groom himself, locate his glasses, and dress himself. He finally opened the door and looked out to see who was bothering him, while using the doorway to steady himself.

A teenage girl was waiting on the other side of the door. Her hair was long, dark and sleek. Her red eyes seemed so eerie and out of place, but her face seemed to express doubt, fear and confusion. She was garbed in a red shirt sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants.

"Hello," she said mechanically.

Peppy regarded the young woman with curiosity. For as unsettling as she appeared, her expression caught him by surprise. She looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't be sure who she was. Nevertheless, he wasn't entirely pleased with the interruption.

"Yes, yes. What do you want?"

She cringed somewhat at Peppy's up-frontness, but she was used to such attitudes. "The boss wants to see you," she continued in her tone, devoid of emotion. "He's planning something big."

The Cornerian groaned as he fetched his jacket lying on his bed. At the moment, the last thing he wanted to see was that hotshot rebel leader, but he figured he didn't have much choice in the matter. Still, he figured he might as well make the best of it.

"Fine. Lead the way," he replied. As he followed her, he noted with disappointment that his pack of cigarettes had gone missing from his coat as well. Resigned to have to live without a smoke of drink, he gave the girl a suspicious look. "What's a kid like you doing in a place like this, anyways?"

The girl curiously observed Peppy as he grabbed his jacket.

She wordlessly turned and began walking. As Peppy followed, she spoke without looking at him, "These people saved me. I spent... so long there..." stopping for a second as she recalled those memories, before continuing to walk. "But I'm almost... happy... here with the Resistance. Some of these people mean stuff to me... and I don't want to lose them."

He turned and regarded her curiously upon hearing her confession. Her emotionless speech, despite her emotion-stricken face seemed to have a stark contrast with one another. She might have been happy with the Resistance, but her story was too vague for his liking. "Spent so long where exactly?"

"One of the SSA prison camps..." She then continued quite plainly. "I don't like to think about it. It was... not a good time at all."

"I see," Peppy replied. Though he had to wonder how she managed to get out, he could tell it was a delicate subject. He decided it was best not to pry too deeply. She was just a kid, after all. He started walking again. "What's your name anyways?"

"...Ashley," she disclosed. "I... I do magic." She could never think of much to say to people she did not know.

A magic caster? In truth, Peppy had encountered very little magic on his travels. The Saurians had what appeared to be magic at times and the Hylians and Ostians were reputed to be magical. However in his journeys in the last five month, the only magic he had seen were the illusions created by the mad witch, Nayru.

"I see," he replied simply.

They arrived at the main hall by then. There was a large group gathered. From them he could see that they were predominantly human, but he could spot the slanted ears of Hylians, the more recognizable backs of Cornerians, and another strange alien species. They were, as he would later find out, a race known as Space Pirates. How they ended up in a place like this was no doubt an interesting story.

On his way to find a seat, he was stopped by a familiar face. "Ah! General!"

Peppy regarded the man carefully. "Mr. Jones... yes, I heard you were here."

Michael nodded. "Yes. You can say I was talked into coming. Here I thought Tetra had talked me out of these mad quests. Look at this though." To Peppy's surprise, he lifted his left hand and made a fist. With his right hand, he pulled off the glove he was wearing to reveal a robotic hand. "After they took down Dr. Robotnik, one of the Invisibles was able to use the tech to do this."

Peppy raised an eyebrow. "The Invisibles?"

"That is what we like to call ourselves," Ashley explained as her eyes probed the area for a seat. "For we are emblematic of the unknown."

"Right. Emblematic," Michael continued, giving the younger girl a strange look. "Anyways, glad to see you're here. You should talk to Dawn, she looked kind of upset last night. I bet seeing you would cheer her up."

"Unlikely," Peppy replied.

Before Michael could inquire further, the room suddenly fell quiet. Looking up, he could see that Colm was stepping out in front of the group.

"They got a seat up front for you," Michael whispered as he began to move away. "I'll talk to you later."

Peppy nodded. It seemed as though Michael's mood had improved since he had last seen him. The old Jones would have never left Diamond City, much less toss his luck in with a bunch of terrorists. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen. Nevertheless, Peppy moved his way to find his place. There were two empty seats up front, in between a dark haired woman and a man with long, red hair. Wordlessly he took his seat.

Ashley sat in the remaining seat between Peppy and the dark haired woman.

"How's it going, kid?" asked the woman to Ashley as she tapped her on the head. This woman's hair was short, but was cut somewhat unevenly as if some amateur job with knives or some other sharp weapons. She wore form-fitting black garb.

Ashley formed what seemed to be a smile in response. "It is... fine."

"More talkative than usual, I see," she said. She then leaned out to view Peppy. "Is this the guy the boss was talking about?"

"Yes. Peppy, that is his name," she replied. "And Peppy... this is Sheena," she said slowly and carefully, as it was not often she was the one doing the introductions.

"A pleasure I'm sure," Peppy replied dryly.

Before he could say anything else though, the man beside him hushed him with a sharp hiss compelling him to silence. Crossing his arms, Peppy listened to what their beloved leader had to say.

"Five months ago, Miles Prower of Star Fox and Jessie, defeated Enforcer Egghead. And now Diamond City is free!" shouted Colm as he addressed the group. Their was a chorus of cheers. It may have been old news now, but there was no denying that it had sparked new life into the Resistance. "And then Enforcer Lance was defeated in combat... by none other than Maxie Gold!"

Sitting in the crowd, the former Pokepit Champion said nothing. Some people cheered for him, some didn't. Having spent two years living the high life in the company of the SSA did little to make him a favorite among the Resistance. Besides that, Saffron City had only gone a week before another Enforcer had replaced Lance. Not as powerful or cruel, but it was only a marginal improvement. Peppy spotted him by looking in the direction everyone else had. He could see that both May and Wes were sitting beside him. Even more familiar faces...

"On Perfection Day, our own Mr. L infiltrated the celebrations. For a short time, the world saw the so-called festivities explode one by one until the Subspace News canned the live coverage," Colm continued passionately. "But now the time has come for us to not be invisible to the world! The Subbies want to pretend like we don't exist. We can't allow this, the quiet cull!"

Some of the group seemed to be getting into it. Though the man that was beside Peppy seemed to appear annoyed and the two ladies had just met... well they weren't the excitable type, it seemed.

"And how do we do that?" a man behind Peppy asked.

With his speech interrupted, Colm turned to address the question. "What Malkovich planned to do. The reason why we moved our operations here after we lost Crateria. We're going to take the Subspace News."

There was some murmuring among the crowd assembled. Nobody seemed to say anything and at last Peppy felt like he should say the obvious here. "And this accomplishes what, exactly?"

It was an obvious question, but where it came from seemed to catch Colm off guard. In truth, he had different expectations from Peppy. Being a cynic was not one of those. But then, he was a general. The same ilk as Malkovich, who always would consider every possibility of failure in a plan. Plan twice, attack once.

"The world at large doesn't know we exist," Colm answered. "Diamond City has been kept secret. Even though ships are routed through New Corneria and Great Bay, nobody knows that Robotnik is gone. It's being called 'increased security'. Lance's replacement was done quietly. They claimed that he got sick for God's sake. People have to know that we're still here, that people have not given up, and that the Subspace Army is not invincible. And what better way than to use the only television station in the world?"

"And you think filling everyone with false hope is a good thing, do you?" Peppy remarked.

This comment didn't just surprise Colm, but it also served to anger him as well. Keeping himself from snapping right then and there, he walked towards Peppy and leaned down to look him in the eye. "We need to talk."

"Then talk," Peppy replied.

"In private," Colm hissed. He then grabbed the general's jacket and pulled him up and led him into a utility closet not too far away from the group. The crowd was left to begin quietly murmuring as they tried to figure out what was going on. After all... they all knew who 'Cottontail' was.

---

"What the hell is your problem!?" Colm angrily snapped as soon as they were alone.

"I don't see the value of a suicide mission that accomplishes nothing," Peppy replied flatly.

"You know damn well it's more than that. For the past five months, I've heard nothing but amazing stories about the great Peppy Hare. About how he is the one guy who is going to set things straight. And then when we finally find you, this is what I see? A pathetic old man."

"It's too late for me to set things straight," Peppy said. "That vessel has departed. The Lake Sp-"

"I don't give a shit about Dialga or time travel or whatever," Colm interrupted. "They all spoke about you like you were some goddamned hero. But I think I see what it was all about. You realized you had a ticket out of this hellhole and that you could use people's false hopes to get you what you needed. This was never about helping people, was it? You were a spineless coward that wanted to return to your comfortable home five years ago."

"You watch your mouth!" Peppy snapped angrily. "I was trying to help people! I was going to prevent any of this from ever happening! Zelda was the catalyst. I had everything I needed to stop it!"

"Zelda is dead. These people don't need some damned fool quest to send you back in time for a one in a million shot you make a difference where no one else did."

Peppy snorted. "Then what do they need. Some hotshot like you on a crazy mission?"

Colm cracked the door open, giving them a look into the crowd. "Look out there, General. There is no Corneria. No Alliance. This is it. These people out there are the only hope this world has of ever being a decent place to live. We'll never get our homes back, but at the very least we deserve the right to live in this world as free people."

"You won't beat them," Peppy replied.

Colm pointed into the crowd. "That's Nana. You remember her, right? My wife and I found her five years ago. The only thing from her world is a frozen mountain. She lost her entire family and all of her friends on the first Perfection Day. Do you know what she was doing the day you met her?"

Peppy was silent.

"She was looking for her best friend, Popo. Two years after all the worlds were wiped out, she was still looking for her best friend. She refused to give up." He pointed to another person in the crowd, Tetra. "And you remember Tetra, right? That armor she wears belongs to our former leader, Samus Aran. Without realizing it, she's been keeping Samus's legacy alive in the north." His hand moved again. "And what about Tony there? Saw all his friends killed when Pokey couldn't rein in Giegue. Used to be a Bloodwing, but they all died on him too. Five years of hell and he ain't given up."

"Yes, they all have sad stories," Peppy replied as he started to move away. "But this-"

"I'm not done yet," Colm snapped as he grabbed Peppy's collar and forced him to stay. "Not many people like Maxie Gold. One of the SSA's poster boys, but he doesn't care. He spent two years preparing to topple Lance, now the only place his face is plastered on is wanted posters. How about Dawn? She saw everyone she knew cut down and killed in front of her trying to protect her. But even she continues to fight."

"Now listen-"

"You listen," Colm interrupted. "All of us have spent as much as six years fighting in this godforsaken world. You've been here five months. Sure, you failed. But all of us have, otherwise we wouldn't be here. The fight doesn't end with Dialga. We keep going."

Peppy was silent for several moments before he replied. "What do you want me to do?"

"They think you're the one who can save us all," Colm answered. "So go out there and act like it."

Peppy gave a weary sigh. "I can't save them."

"I know that. But they've been fed stories of your exploits. These people need someone to believe in. The need hope from the man who has come face to face with agents and enforcers and lived to tell about it. I've kept them all alive, but I can't give them that. You can."

At last, Peppy nodded. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Good."

---

At last Colm and Peppy returned from the backroom and stepped in front of the group. The leader of the Resistance gave Peppy a sly look before he spoke up. "Peppy Hare has agreed to lead the attack!"

Peppy blinked. "I- what?"

"I'll be going with him," Colm continued. He pointed to the two ladies Peppy had been sitting next to. "Sheena, Ashley. You two will be with us."

"Very well," said Ashley, seemingly indifferent to her assignment.

"Great, I feel flattered you want us there to die with you," said Sheena with more then a touch of sarcasm, "But don't you think we should leave the girl here so she might get a few more hours to live?", motioning towards Ashley.

"We need her," Colm replied flatly. "And you too. But we won't be going it alone either." He turned back to the crowd. "As you all know, Wario keeps his own security detail. In order to reach the top of the News Tower, we'll have to deal with that security. In order to do that, three separate teams have been selected to perform these tasks.

"The night this happens, Wario will be attending his own birthday celebration at his mansion. Roy and his team will infiltrate this party. Once Wario is captured, they'll force him to give up his security clearance. Once successful, Tippi will lead a team into the underground power plant using his clearance. Once the power is disabled, the tower will be forced to rely on generator power.

"A third group led by Sgt. Thompson infiltrate the tower after the power has been cut. Their purpose will be to draw the security to the lower levels. This will allow my group to enter the news room and transmit our broadcast to the rest of the world. Afterwards, we rig the building to blow and get the hell out of there."

Peppy looked skeptical. "And how do you know Wario will give up those codes?'

"Trust me. He'll talk," Colm replied. He turned to address the crowd once more. "This mission is risky, there is no doubt about that. I can't force anyone to come along. Those who do not come will go to the Alpha Site should this plan fail. Those who will go will receive more information from their squad leader. Any objections?"

There were none, not even from Peppy. The briefing had been concise, but he wouldn't be going until he saw the plans more in depth from his 'squad leader'. It might be a suicide mission, but in the end, what else was there to live for?

The time had finally arrived. It had come quicker for Peppy than he would have liked. He had managed to persuade the Pikmin to let him go alone and as a result they had left with the other Resistance a few days prior. Aside from the other three groups, the only 'Invisibles' was Mike Jones and a few others. They were the liaison between the four different groups. There would be no progress in the mission without receiving word from them.

Their team was small, but well armed. The ringleader, Colm, was outfitted in lighter armor than he had been before. Stealth was his number one skill and he was dressed for the part by wearing a black, tight outfit. Likewise Sheena was dressed in a similar fashion. Though the others were dressed in black clothing, their outfits were thicker and made for combat. Peppy had received some Federation-class armor. The rest of the group was composed of Ashley, a former Pig Mask named Thatchman whose specialty was demolitions, a Zebesian Space Pirate whom's name Peppy could not pronounce but was supposedly good at hacking, a Hylian woman named Martese with acute telepathic abilities, and the Goomba 'Waffles' who used his tongue to wield a Beam Sword with incredible skill.

According to their last information from the Liaison, Roy had already infiltrated Wario's birthday party and transmitted the security codes to Tippi. It would only be a matter of time before the power grid was shut down and Sgt. Thompson would lead his group to attack the lower levels of the News Tower. As for Peppy and his allies though, they waited to make their move on the next building over.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Thatchman mumbled, breaking the stiff silence as they waited for radio contact.

"Everything's going according to plan," Colm replied. "We just have to keep a cool head."

"I'll feel a bit better when the lights go out," Peppy added. "We're sitting ducks up here."

Ashley looked on nervously, wondering how far they would get before failure. "My magic can change our shapes to hide us if we need to..."

Sheena then looked over at Ashley in annoyance. "If it works this time! It's only occasionally you're not completely useless!" Despite the soft spots the two had for each other (or perhaps because of it), Sheena was still quick to point out all her flaws. "But hey, we're masters of stealth. I'm sure we'll survive at least until entering the building."

"As refreshing as your pessimism is, I'd just as soon not hear it," Martese replied sarcastically.

"Well at least someone here can keep a positive outlook," Colm commented. Despite the last five years of fighting the Subspace Army, Colm's good nature had never been lost. He was able to stay upbeat, positive, and make sure his people were protected. While some might criticize his sense of tactics, he certainly had a way of inspiring people.

Even from his short time, Peppy was already beginning to see that. In a world where hope was in short supply, a man like Colm certainly had the ability to motivate people. In a way it made Peppy feel guilty. He hadn't even spent a year in the future and his attitude had soured completely. Maybe Dawn was right about him after all.

Suddenly the lights in the city shut down. Building by building suddenly were darkened and with only the light on the Moon above, seemed to almost vanish altogether.

"Joneses reported," the Zebesian hissed. He held one hand to a communications implant on his head. "The Power Grid is down."

"We noticed," Waffles grunted.

"Thompson is moving in," the Zebesian continued.

"Then that's our cue," Colm said.

The former thief knelt down and opened a duffel bag and removed what looked like a harpoon gun. He was no sharpshooter though - that was his wife. He handed the weapon off to Thatchman. By then the soldier had already placed his night vision goggles on, took the weapon, and steadied himself on the edge of the building. Aiming a little lower on the adjacent building, he fired into the other building. As the bolt went flying towards the News Tower, it had a cord attacked to it. Once it had successfully made it to the other side, just above one of the windows, the other end of the cable was fastened around a pipe.

"Excellent work," Colm said. He then handed a zip-line pulley to Sheena. "Now it's your turn. Secure the other side and get us in."

"You got it," she replied, without the enthusiasm that she had said those same words years ago. Her optimism had not been as lucky at Colm's. It had died in Sky Town.

Sheena silently zipped down the chord to the opposing building and got to work. Steadying herself on the windowcill, she pulled out a seal and applied it to the window. It was one that had been infused with the ice element back in their old world. The window was frozen to the point where it would be more easily broken.

Withdrawing a shuriken, she slowly and silently carved a circle in the window and pulled it out, followed by the rest of the window. She then rested it on the windowsill, where it would slowly melt. She then slipped into the dark room, not really worried about security measures. After all, they had chosen one of them few rooms without any surveillance... the bathroom.

Sheena then tugged on the line as a signal to the others.

After receiving the signal, the others quickly followed suit. Waffles secured himself inside of Thatchman's harness and the others used their own cable trolleys to arrive on the other side, easily slipping into the whole that Sheena had provided for them. Colm was the last one to arrive, after having made sure everyone had arrived successfully. Peppy had the most trouble. Given his girth, he really wished the ninja woman would have thought to make the hole larger.

"Oi, only Wario would put windows in his bathrooms," Waffles commented as he was removed from Thatchman's harness.

"Only in the women's bathrooms," Colm pointed out. He turned to the Hylian. "Anything?"

"No," she replied. "It looks like this floor is empty."

"Of humanses," the Zebesian replied. After all, his kind had proven to be incompatible with humanoid telepathy.

"Well I don't hear anything either," Peppy added. He honestly wasn't sure why he was even in this group. As the oldest member of the group, he felt a bit out of place. He certainly couldn't match their stamina or agility. "Now what?"

"The ventilation shaft," Colm replied. Thatchman was already in the process of removing the vent that was just above one of the stalls. Once he did so, Waffles was handed up to him and the Goomba took to the shafts. Unfortunately he was the only one small enough to fit inside easily. His squat size meant he'd be able to move a lot faster than the only person who could fit, Ashley, who would have had to crawl through. "Waffles will meet us at the stairwell."

With that taken care of, Thatchman and the Zebesian took point as they exited the bathroom. The two were the most heavily armed of the group and had their weapons at the ready. The others followed closely.

After a small groan, Ashley clambered up into the ventilation shaft and followed Waffles' lead. They both kept their voices down to whispers as they spoke.

"Do you... know the way?" Ashley asked as she uncomfortably crawled through the shaft. She was still just big enough to fit in the shaft, she felt in another few months her shaft-crawling days would be over.

"Oi, Don't you worry Li'l Squeak," Waffles said, with a nickname he usually used to address the younger Invisibles, "Ah was a maitenance 'Goom back in my old world so I kin make meh way through this ol' shaft to any stairwell like a li'l mice to the cheese at th' end o' the maze!"

Ashley simply nodded in response to the goombas' words.

"Aye, it wouldn't hurt to talk a bit more, gal," Waffles continued. "I know ye must've seen a lot in ye short life, and it might seem best to stay quiet aboot all these crazy things, but ye gotta open up to someone if'n ye ever want to make things better."

Ashley stared intently towards Waffles. She opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment the shaft shook as a booming noise was heard. So instead, she cringed.

"Gadzooks!"

While Ashley and Waffles were making their way through the ventilation, the rest of the group continued on.

"We've got company," Martese said. "Five... no six guards closing in on us."

Thatchman quickly moved down the corridor and peered around the corner. Several shots fired towards him and he quickly pulled his head back. "Looks like they're on to us," he reported as he readied his assault rifle. "Standard energy weapons."

"Let's take them out before they call backup," Peppy advised. He removed a grenade from his bandoleer and moving past Thatchman, quickly tossed it down the hallway. After the resulting explosion, he and the Zebesian positioned their selves on the other side of the corner leading towards the security. Once the smoke had cleared and they saw that the guards had avoided the blast, they opened fire.

Between the three of them, the guards were quickly taken down. After receiving the go-ahead from Martese, they pressed on again. The stairwell wasn't far from there. As the had anticipated, it was locked from the other side.

"Well let's hope Waffles didn't get lost," Colm said impatiently. After that explosion, it wouldn't take long for more security to show up, even with the power out.

Sheena looked around impatiently. She felt no need to voice her annoyances again.

Back in the ventilation shaft, Ashley and Waffles remained still for a moment after the boom was heard. "Thas' not good," Waffles muttered, breaking the silence as he began to move again.

Ashley remained still for another moment and then crawled after him.

"Guess we'll be savin' that bondin' for another time, eh Li'l Squeak?"

"Yes..." she was able to convince herself to say, "...Waffles."

The rest of the trip through the ventilation shaft went quickly and silently, in true Invisible fashion. Waffles eventually stopped atop a grate that overlooked the stairwell. Peering down, he saw no sign of anyone at the door yet.

"We still gotta chance!" he stammered as he rammed his Goomba fangs into the grate and pulled it off, hopping down first to ensure the area's safety. Ashley then dropped down after him. They could hear voices from the other side of the door, but it was the voices they recognized.

They quickly unlocked the door and opened it to let the others through.

Once everyone was on the other side, the Zebesian locked the door once again and quickly applied a small metal device on the access panel used to unlock the door.

"All right, you all know the plan," Colm stated once they were on the other side. "Thompson's team will secure the camera room, my team will reroute the transmissions to the backup generators."

Colm's group headed to the floor below. With his group he took Sheena, the Zebesian, and Martese. With Thatchman he took Peppy, Ashley, and Waffles.

Ashley felt uneasy at being separated from Sheena. But there was no point in turning back. She had the rabbit with her at least.

"C'mon," Thatchman said, "Let's give them a show to remember," as he led them up the stairs.

Ashley looked back and forth, and then she followed. Her eyes wandered to Peppy for a while. "Are you scared, Mister Hare?" she asked as innocently as she could, but knew that her lips would twist them the words to sound alienating.

Not just alienating, but the words also sounded rather creepy. Peppy gave the girl a suspicious glance but quickly averted his eyes towards the goal at hand. "I've been in worse situations, young lady." For everything he'd been through in this strange world and in the future, to him nothing could compare to escaping Andross's fortress. Leaving his best friend behind... to his death.

Well he wasn't going to let that happen this time. "Don't let the fear stop you. Use it."

"This is it," Thatchman interrupted. Peppy followed their leader a little further into the hallway. Sure enough, it was the familiar news room. It was the most lavish place in the entire complex, no doubt due to the fact Wario spent so much time in it. The cameras were all focused at once place, the news center table where the familiar visage of Wario and his co-anchor Lute always sat. Well there was no use wasting time.

"Well let's stop wasting time!" Waffled exclaimed as he moved towards the camera controls. He was about to show exactly how handy he was in operating controls with his dry Goomba tongue. Likewise Thatchman began setting up the controls as they waited for Colm's team to ready the transmission.

"And what am I supposed to do?" Peppy asked.

Thatchman grinned, "You don't know? Heh. You and Ash here are going on the air. You two better start applying the 'makeup' so you look good on TV."

"No... not now!" Ashley said as she dropped to her knees, clhing her head in pain.

Waffles stepped away from the camera and towards Ashley. "Calm yerself, this is not the time-" However, at that point a dark force of energy surged from Ashley's body and left Waffles on the floor, fried.

"I'm sorry... but all of you are going to die here," with tears streaming from her eyes, before she collapsed, and a dark explosion erupted from her body.

Thatchman reacted immediately as he readied his gun, setting the barrel in Ashley's direction. Peppy quickly reacted the same. The eruption threw him off his feet, but he managed to position himself to keep his gun on her. He didn't know what the hell was going on, but he wasn't going to be caught off guard.

"What the hell's going on!?" Peppy shouted.

"I don't know," Thatchman yelled back. "Ashley! ASHLEY!"

"That's my name," answered a cold voice from the shadows back of the news station, with the voice being accompanied by a blast of dark energy that knocked Thatchman off his feet. Out from said shadows stepped a woman who looked identical to the Ashley whom had just disappeared in the dark explosion near the front of the studio. However, this Ashley was draped in only a black dress that looked like it would be equally appropriate at a prom as it would at a funeral. "Ir's time you got to know my better half," she said as a sadistic smile cleaved her face.

The smoke from the explosion died down. Where the exploding Ashley had been, there was known a small red demon passed out.

A mauthedog, a wolf-like zombie, was at her side. It pounced at Peppy as if recognizing him through some brief instinct, to pin the rabbit down.

Oh no, not this again...

Peppy suddenly found himself pinned under a vicious beast as he seemed wont to do in the past, whether it was a dragon or a vicious ape, he seemed to just attract these sort of things.

While he was pinned down, the other two immediately sprung into action. Realizing they were betrayed, Thatchman immediately began firing away with his machine gun. Waffles in the meantime made a beeline into the control room. He had to let the others know what was happening.

Ashley dove to the floor to avoid the gunfire, although she felt one pierce her shoulder. Damn automatics would have to be dealt with. As she landed, she reached her hand out and willed Nosferatu. She had grown beyond the stage for needing tomes. At that time black energy flowed out from Thatchman's body and into Ashley, helping to heal her wound. She'd worry about removing the bullet later. Killing was her priority at the moment.

At that moment, her back-up arrived as three zombie-like creatures known as the revenants slunk into the room. Simple creatures, but they could fulfill the important purpose of diverting bullet fire. One began to pursue Waffles, while the other two went for Thatchman. The mauthedog remained atop Peppy and began snapping at the air in front of Peppy to intimidate him.

And the red demon lay on the floor, seemingly forgotten.

Peppy scowled as the dog began snapping at him. There wasn't any way in hell he was going to let things end like this. If she thought betraying them at the midnight hour was going to earn her favor with the SSA, then she had another thing coming. Peppy was a hare after all and though a civilized Cornerian, he wasn't beyond using his own natural abilities to his advantage. One of those happened to be particular strong legs. He used them to kick the creature off of him. It didn't get rid of the beast, but it gave him enough time to retrieve his weapon and turn fast enough to fire three rounds straight into the creature's skull.

But it wasn't fast enough to save his comrade. For as many bullets as Thatchman was firing, the zombies were unrelenting and eventually one of them latched itself on to him. Waffled on the other hand was barely fast enough to lock himself on the other side of the controls. Which meant until Colm arrived, Peppy was on his own.

"I am getting sick of your mother shracking agents in this mother shracking future!" Peppy roared as he unleashed his weapon on the remaining zombies.

"Your rage is impressive," Ashley said as she watched the revenants collapse from the blasterfire. "You should be a fun toy to play with while I wait for your friends. You've already met my other toy..."

As Ashley said this, she clenched a fist, and the small red demon began convulsing on the floor in pain. As he writhed, he shifted in and out of a form resembling Ashley in her black and red dress. The real Ashley grinned as she took all of this in.

Then she turned to face Peppy and raised one palmed hand. "Let's start out small... Flux!" she said as a dark bubble assailed the rabbit.

The dark bubble managed to hit Peppy head on, throwing him squarely off his feet. The energy sapped his strength and it felt like he had just touched an electric fence, only amplified. He wasn't quite flat on his back yet. The little red demon was potential threat, but he was more concerned with the ring leader. If she was taken out, there was no threat. Now he wished he had brought the Pikmin for backup. He fired a few shots as he quickly scrambled behind the news desk for temporary cover.

Ashley giggled, but one with no warmth, as she watched the rabbit tumbling over the desk and used her dark magic to propel Red to absorb the laser beams and then let him drop to the ground like a beaten rag doll, missing an ear.

She then stepped forward and fired a different blast of dark magic with the call of "Luna!" so that it explode behind the desk.

Then the cavalry arrived.

Colm provided cover fire as the rest of his squad took up defensive positions. The Zebesian moved forward with weapons firing, taking advantage of his own powerful exoskeleton to protect him. Colm soon found cover behind some electronic equipment. Once he had Peppy in sight, he gave him a few hand signals the general would understand. He then glanced at the two ladies near him and spoke in a hushed whisper. "We've got to neutralize her quickly. If the equipment is destroyed, this operation is a bust. Got it?"

Sheena hadn't wanted to believe it when Waffles had sent them the news... but there was Ashley. The one person she had confided in, and as usual it came back to bite her. She should have learned her lesson after Zelos.

But there was no time to beat herself up now, that was the old Sheena's way. "...You got it," she muttered as Martese nodded next to her.

At that point, Sheena dove and rolled, making full use of her acrobatic skills to get close enough to Ashley to attack her without being baked by dark magic. At the same time, Martese attempted an attack on Ashley's mind, to the best she could with the magic's interference.

Peppy had managed to avoid taking the brunt of the attack by diving away in time. While his allies drew Ashley's attention he moved out of Ashley's line of sight and to Thatchman's side. He quickly checked the man's pulse and was disheartened to learn he had been killed. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Peppy from claiming his weapon and his explosives. He quickly found cover again as he changed the clip on Thatchman's weapon. Bullets had been more effective than lasers, so he was going to go in hard and heavy.

The others had sooner than expected. She hadn't even gotten a scream out of the rabbit yet. But everything was going according to plan. Just as she weaved out of the Zebesian's line of fire, she felt something in her mind attacking her. On the floor, Red was whining as well.

Looking, she saw Martese. That damn psychic... the only reason she had not acted before. She shouted in anger and lashed out with a sudden surge of dark energy that hit Martese like a ram against the wall, and she fell over with some blood streaming from her mouth. Red's whining stopped.

However, at the same time she received a kick to the face from Sheena. Sheena then prepared to stab her with a kunai, but Ashley had regained her senses and tossed her back with a less dangerous attack. Without Martese's psychic, she could toy around with them a bit more. "Poor Sheena... still see me as your sorority sister? Otherwise you would have led with the kunai."

Colm didn't quite share the same relationship Sheena did with Ashley. As much as he may have dislike having to fight her, he knew what his priorities were. With both Thatchman and Martese down, he was going to have to take this into his own hands if Sheena wasn't prepared to do so. The Zebesian struck first, detaining the red demon while it had been distracted by Martese's attack. While the creature was pinned down, Colm switched to his submachine gun and fired a spray of bullets in the girl's direction as he moved from behind the equipment and to the other side of the room to where Martese had been hiding. A quick check of the vitals confirmed she was alive, but unconscious. He pulled her away out of Ashley's line of sight and propped her against the wall. There was nothing else he could do for her now.

Sheena hit the wall but was able to bring herself back to her feet almost instantly, inwardly cursing herself the whole time. She then took aim and tossed her kunai, and dashed forward with a seal to attack Ashley with. As Colm unleashed his rounds, she was only able to ensure that the bullets did not hit any vital areas.

From behind, Peppy stood at the ready. With his weapon in hand, he positioned himself behind Ashley. Sheena may have kept Colm from killing the girl off, but peppy wasn't willing to let any feelings for the 'innocent girl' get in the way. He fired a single shot at point blank range towards her back.

Ashley hated bullets. She really did. But instead of using Red as a shield as she had for the lasers, she tried weaving around Colm's bullets but a number made contact. She simultaneously received another bullet in the back as well as a kunai in her neck. She fell over to the ground.

No blood was visible. A few seconds later, Ashley rose to her feet and yanked the kunai out of her neck and muttered, "I really hate bullets."

Focusing, she unleashed dark magic attacks in the direction of each assailant, including the Zebesian. "Don't you fools see? I'm not just a little girl anymore. The Subspace Army has taken everything that made me human out of me and put it elsewhere. My positive emotions... my hope..." At that point, her hair moved to reveal a scar on her chest. "And my heart."

"This is all of your fates. Your body, your soul, your free will... at least one of the three will be killed by the Subspace Army. It's pointless to resist, because in the end you are all just puppets of the great Master Hand, to live and die as we choose."

The red demon looked on at all this with wide eyes. Suddenly, he defiantly cried, "Her heart is in me! Kill me!"

Ashley turned towards Red with a glare and prepared a Warp spell aimed at him. "Time to go."

The dark attack had Colm pinned down. He wasn't the only one either, as the Zebesian, Sheena, and Peppy were also unable to react. The leader of the Invisible struggled to move. He knew that if she managed to send the little devil away, then they would lose their only shot at victory. Yet the dark energy continued to crackle through his every nerve, keeping him from moving. But then he saw something he didn't expect.

Waffles came out of nowhere, jumping past the witch and towards the devil. His mouth was opened wide and once he was on the demon, he sunk his razor sharp teeth into Red's body.

Red and Ashley screamed simultaneously. Ashley fired the Warp spell at the same time and it made contact, making both Red and Waffles disappear. But the damage had been done... the Goomba's teeth had pierced her heart.

The bands of dark magic disappeared as blood poured from all of Ashley's open wounds. Blood trickled from each of her eyes. However, her eyes themselves glowed with emotion. "Thank you..." she said, as she fell over backward and, with a smile on her face, began gazing at the ceiling forever.

With a mournful sigh, Peppy put his weapon away as he knelt down over the girl. Once again the Subbies had made an innocent into a monster. Placing his hand over her face, he gently closed her eyelids. He looked up at the others. "Now what?"

The whole thing was very difficult to watch... she had lost so many important people before, but she was usually not there to see it firsthand... nor was it so graphic. The old Sheena would have broken down.

But this Sheena held back her tears. "We deliver our message," as she approached the camera which, despite the various explosions, was still intact and looked like it was still good for at least a few more uses.

Colm's expression was troubled. The entire mission had gone awry. Thatchman, Waffles, and Ashley were gone... Martese was in bad shape and he couldn't even be sure she would make it. They had a duty to make this video work. It wasn't just for those who had lost their lives today. Immediately he began to work on setting up the system. "A message of hope. A message we've paid dearly for," Colm said. "Everyone. For the people who died fighting the Subspace Army. For those of us who resisted even when hope was gone. It's for Douglas Falcon and Uesugi Goroh who died to the Creeper. It's for our old leaders Adam Malkovich and Samus Aran whose sacrifices meant our survival. It's for those recently lost, Lloyd Irving and Tabitha Caulder. And it's for Walter Thatchman, Waffles, and even Ashley."

Peppy laid his hand on Colm's shoulder. "Well said, son. Well said."

The Zebesian looked up. "We're in the system. It won't take long for us to lose the connection."

"Whoever goes on there will have their identity broadcasted to everyone. Without Ashley's disguise..." Colm began to say. "It should be me who does it."

The general shook his head. "No. They need you. But me? I'm just an old hare that's already wanted by almost everyone." He then smiled. "Besides, your speeches are a bit corny."

Colm said nothing, but relented and took his place behind the camera. He then gave a nod to Sheena for her to start rolling.

Peppy calmly sat down behind the remains of the desk and looked at the camera. When the red light flashed, he knew it was time to speak.

"People of this world, hear me. I am not an Enforcer or Agent here for an interview. I am not the new replacement for either that wretched Wario or Lute. I'm one of you. I am Peppy Hare, once general of the Cornerian Defense Force. It's been over five years, my friends. Five years of being trapped in this world, bowing to corrupt leaders, and living our lives in fear. But know this. It does not have to be that way. The fight for our freedom and right to exist did not end on Perfection Day. We've all lost friends and family. I know that I will never see my daughter again, but this does not mean I lay down my weapon.

"The Subspace Army is not invincible, despite what this very news station would tell you. Enforcer Lance is no more. He was defeated by his very own Champion, who sought to end the despicable PokePit. Enforcer Robotnik is dead and Diamond City is once again free. We do not need to submit to these masters who tore us from our homes. There is hope for a better future. Fight not just for yourself, but for the future of the sons and daughters yet to come. All of us have tasted freedom and they too deserve that same right.

"The road will be difficult and filled with obstacles. Many good men and women's lives were spent to send out this message of hope. We're out there. We will fight. And in time, we will win."

The light faded away. The transmission had been severed.

"They know we're here," Colm said. He quickly pulled Martese up and scooped her up into his arms. "We have to get out of here now."

The Zebesian removed some explosives from his pack and wired them to the controls. "Five minutes."

Peppy picked up one of the weapons left on the ground and took the lead. "We just have to get back to the entry way, right?"

"Negative," Colm replied. "We have to go up. Our extraction point is the roof. That's six floors up."

"And without elevators," the Zebesian noted.

"Then let's move," Peppy said.

Sheena quickly planted an explosive seal on the camera and sped over to the others. She remained silent but with a vigilant watch from the back of the group.

As soon as they exited the newsroom, they were accosted by automated security drones. Of Robotnik design, it seemed like. Wario always did like the old doctor. Peppy was the first to attack, firing his rounds into the drones. The Zebesian soon followed by leaping into the fray and tearing several of them aparts with his claws before firing blasts of plasma into the others. With them taken care of, Colm and Sheena followed them out towards the stairwell.

There was no use for stealth now, so the Zebesian quickly removed the door with a blast from his weapons. He went on ahead to clear the way. Colm and Sheena followed him while Peppy followed from behind, in case they were pursued. However it soon became apparent they had been headed off when a body of a guard fell down the center of the stairwell. The Zebesian soon descended to stop in front of Colm.

"There's too many of them," he reported.

Colm cursed under his breath. "They must have got tipped off somehow." He quickly considered their options. "We'll take the elevator shaft." After maneuvering Martese so she was over his shoulder, he opened the door leading to the floor above where the had just come from. Once they were all on the other side, he removed a knife from his boot and jammed it into the control circuit outside the door. "That will slow them down."

Once at the elevator doors, the Zebesian easily pried them open. Without power, the elevators were inactive. However there was a service ladder on the side. Colm passed on Martese to the Zebesian and started up first. Peppy and Sheena followed while the Zebesian used his own natural claws to cling to the wall and climb up while using one arm to keep a hold of the still unconscious Hylian.

They had made it a few floors up when gunshots suddenly sounded in the shaft. Looking down, they spotted the guards had followed them into the shaft. Sheena fired a few shots at them, managing to peg one of them, which caused the guards to withdraw. Another floor up and the found the elevator doors already opened with the guards waiting. The Zebesian instantly threw himself at them, slashing two of them across the chest with his free arm. Colm quickly joined him and took out the rest with his gun. "They'll have more at the floors above. Back to the stairwell."

The Zebesian blowing off the door took out a few of the guards waiting outside the stairwell. Sheena was able to finish another one off off with her kunai as her gun had ran out of ammunition. Colm realized too late that his had jammed too late and took a bullet to the shoulder. He grunted in pain and took his other remaining knife and sent it flying into the guard's chest. After the rest had been finished off, Colm retrieved his weapon, cleaned it off on the side of his pants, and led the rest of the way up.

There were no guards on the roof. Colm looked around frantically for their way out and then at his watch. "Dammit... thirty seconds until those explosives blow." He turned around to look at his team apologetically. "Well... it's been fun."

Suddenly a large blue object began rising up from behind him. After seeing the expression on Peppy and Sheena's face, the turned around and spotted the ship. He grinned. The Falcon Flyer had arrived. A door popped open and a ladder was thrown out. The team wasted no time in grabbing the ladder as the ship began to ascend into the clouds. Peppy was the last to board the ship where he found himself surrounded by his teammates from the other parts of the mission.

Mike pushed his way through the crowd and had a wide grin as he saw Peppy. "General! You did it. You're a little late. We were going to leave, but Neimi insisted otherwise. Oh, nice broadcast by the way."

Peppy was winded and sat himself down on a bench. He nodded, but said nothing. When he finally caught his breath, he looked up at Colm. "You never mentioned having a ship like this."

"A little memento Falcon left us," Colm answered. "Besides, you missed the briefing, remember?"

"Huh... We actually survived," Sheena noted. She then turned to Peppy and said somewhat reluctantly, "Um... thanks, you know, for everything." She almost felt like saying more, but was not exactly ready to open up completely yet. So she walked off wordlessly to find a secluded part of the ship where she could release her tears and pay Ashley a proper tribute.

The general watched Sheena leave, not knowing quite what to say. The mystery behind Ashley eluded him, but it seemed that the girl they took with them was not the one who died in the building, but the tiny devil that was sent with their unexpected savior, Waffles. He stood up to go follow her, but was stopped by Colm.

"Let her be," Colm said. "She'll be fine."

Peppy sighed. "What's next, then?"

"We're taking you to a drop off point," Colm answered. "There's some people who really want to meet you."